


On-line Gaming

by Beltenebra, imifumei



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Final Fantasy jokes, Gen, Junno puns, anime and game fandom, improper use of Cheetos, lots of them - Freeform, nerd life, unrepentant dorkery, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 17:46:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8499301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/pseuds/Beltenebra, https://archiveofourown.org/users/imifumei/pseuds/imifumei
Summary: Nino and Junno wait in line for Halo:Reach bootlegs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for JE Rainbow Bridge 2010! A bit of a snafu resulted in the happy circumstances of Imifumei and I collaborating on this fic. We had a pretty fantastic time snapping dialogue back and forth and colluding on the horrible jokes. ^_^ The Final Fantasy opinions, I must confess, are entirely mine. Kefka forever!

"Holy shit," Nino complained on a chilly Autumn night outside an elite gaming store in Akihabara. "How are there this many people in line for Reach? It’s not even being released in this country!"

"Then what are we doing here?" Junno asked.

"I mean _officially_. It’s not being officially released."

"Right." Junno nodded.

September 14th had finally arrived, or nearly. It would arrive at midnight and that’s what they were all here waiting for. The unofficial release of bootlegged copies of _Halo:Reach_.  Nino and Junno had made arrangements to wait in line together, which meant someone to hold your place if you couldn’t hold your bladder and someone to talk to. Nino could maybe have passed on that, but Junno had offered and after kicking epic amounts of ass in his last LAN party, none of his other gaming buddies were talking to him. 

Whatever. He didn’t need them and their puritanical objections to team-killing. It wasn’t cheating. It was _a strategy_. A time-honored one at that. But at any rate, here he was, with Taguchi Junnosuke, self-professed line-waiter extraordinaire. Waiting.

It didn’t take very long for Nino to get bored. "I’m hungry," he said. "Bust out the snacks."

"Are they in your bag?"

"What?! You were supposed to bring food."

Junno cocked his head to the side and pondered. "Was I?"

Nino crossed his arms angrily. "I sent you a message about it. Three days ago. You _replied_ to it."

"Are you sure?"

In response Nino scoffed and dug into his pocket for his phone. Junno tried to say something but was cut off by Nino’s tiny hand thrusting a phone into his face. It read _Great! I’ll bring food and we can enjoy it in the open air. I’ll finally get to try being a_ piazza _delivery boy! - Junno_

"Huh, no kidding! Ummm... ok. Well, I didn’t."

"Clearly."

Junno smiled to ease the tension and waved a hand placatingly. "It’s fine, we can grab something from the conbini up ahead."

Nino’s eyes grew round for a moment, then narrowed in a shrewd glare. "Absolutely not. Do you know how much convenience stores gouge you with their prices?! They charge you an arm and a leg for three onigiri. Three!" He waggled his finger. "And they’re not even that good. Tch. Useless."

Junno tried another tack. "You know we could actually order pizza. Plenty of people get food delivered while they’re standing on line. 

Nino turned away and crossed his arms again. "I am not even going to dignify that with a response."

Two hours later, though, the line had inched to within a few feet of the conbini. When a couple of otaku swept past the line and into the store, the door whooshed open and the heady smell of bagel dogs wafted out. Nino’s stomach growled. Junno looked at him pointedly. 

"What?"

"Nothing," Junno replied.

Then Nino’s stomach growled again, louder. 

"Now, onigiri? Come on, I’ll buy them." Junno didn’t wait for an answer, instead leaving Nino to save his place while he went in to shop. He returned a few moments later with onigiri, bagel dogs because they smelled too good to pass up, and a bag of Cheetos.

Nino looked dubiously at the garish orange bag. "So you got food and..."

"Game fuel!" Junno answered cheerfully.

"Yeah," he scoffed. "Not in my house. I don’t want Cheeto crumbs all over my stuff."

"Which is why we’re eating them now." Junno ripped the bag open and chuckled softly. 

"What are you laughing at?"

"Well, Jin always says..."

"I’m sure I don’t want to know what Jin always says."

"Jin always says-"

"I just said I _don’t want_ to _know_."

"He says, ‘If you want to turn your daddy parts orange, eat some Cheetos and watch some porn.’"

Nino’s face lost all expression and turned a sickly shade. "Tell me Akanishi has never said that."

"Akanishi has never said that," Junno deadpanned.

Nino sunk his face into his palm and groaned. "You’re lying, aren’t you?"

"I think it’s in our best interests if I say ‘no’."

"AAAAH! I didn’t want to KNOW that.  I can’t eat those now! Is it possible to bleach your brain?! I bet I could make billions marketing brain-soap." Nino continued to grumble to himself.

"Don’t get yourself in a lather over it." 

Nino’s hand whipped out to the side to smack Junno in the arm without a pause in his speculation. "Although, now that I am _forced_ to think about it, that sounds right up Aiba’s alley. Remind me to get him and Jun and some Cheetos all together in the same room some time."

The horrifying visuals of Akanishi and Cheetos aside, it wasn’t all bad waiting in line together. Since they each had a DS and Junno had thought to bring Mario Party, they spent a good bit of the time playing with and against each other. That was, until Junno mentioned how sad it was that Final Fantasy Tactics was a PSP game, and they couldn’t play that, which launched them into quite an intense discussion of the merits of each addition to the franchise.

They were in the midst of a heated debate, Nino’s voice raised in a strenuous objection to one of Junno’s arguments in defense of the even-numbered Final Fantasy games. 

Junno met Nino’s scowl with a level stare, "Kefka. Best. Villian. Ever. 

If he had known the secret to rendering Nino speechless he would have passed it around the company years ago. The other man just stood, mouth agape, and blinked a few times, like he was trying to process the nonsensical gibberish that had just come out of Junno’s mouth. A few of the other guys in their general vicinity even turned to look at him. 

He relented with an exaggerated eye-roll, _"Besides Sephiroth_."  

"Ok, I’ll give you that one; Kefka was pretty awesome. But what about eight? Some character design team phoned that one in. I mean, _Squall_ looks suspiciously like a slightly darker, floppier-haired version of _Cloud_ , don’t you think? Now with thirty-three percent more ridiculous angst!" 

Junno found himself snickering at Nino’s diatribe, eager to further provoke the older man. "You have issues with Squall! What about Zack?" 

Nino threw a hand up in Junno’s face to fend off further defamation of Zack’s character. "Zack was badass. You shut up. Titus. Tidus. Dodgeball boy, whatever the hell his name was. With the evil twin? Did he _really_ need an extra half a game? You can’t tell me you’re nostalgic for the days when you couldn’t turn a corner in Shibuya without tripping over six bitches dressed like Yuna."

Junno let him go on for a bit while he scanned the line. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl in a Princess Peach t-shirt craning her neck to peer in their direction. She squeaked when she saw him looking back at her and ducked behind the guy in front of her but he could hear her whispering frantically to someone. He caught a few wisps of their conversation. _Ninomiya? Do you think- wouldn’t be surprised- pictures, maybe?_

Clearly, they needed a distraction. He turned to Nino with his best winning smile. "Quick, gimme your shoes." 

Nino’s reaction was immediate, "What? No." 

He beamed more vehemently, "Come on, just hand them over."  

"Don’t you mean feet them over?" The shorter man returned wryly, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"As much as I appreciate the effort, this is really _not_ the time."  

"What the hell do you need them for?" Nino sounded just as irritable as before but maybe also a little curious. 

Junno lowered his voice, "That girl, five back in line- don’t look! She thinks she recognizes you." 

"And you think me being shoeless will throw her off?"

He supposed he couldn’t blame Nino for his skepticism. After all, he was not yet aware of Junno’s awesome plan. "No. I can juggle them to detract attention from you! But I need four things. Well, at least three, but four would be better. Better tricks, you know."

The skepticism seemed hard to deter. "Taguchi. Let me get this straight. In order to keep someone’s attention off of who I am, you’re going to _juggle our shoes_? You can see how this might not be effective, right?"

Junno blinked down at Nino with his best ‘trust me’ expression. "What? It’s not like she’ll recognize _me_. Just gimme." 

Nino cocked his head to the side and nodded thoughtfully, "Kamenashi was right. You _are_ certifiable." 

"Fine, I’ll just throw you to the wolves and that girl will take pictures and blog about you being here and everyone will know that Japan’s beloved Ninomiya-sama buys bootlegged American games and it will be a big fucking deal." Junno cinched his case with a superior smile. "They might even make you return the game." 

The words were barely out of his mouth before Nino thrust his scuffed sneakers into Junno’s hands. "Here are my shoes." 

Three hours and two impromptu juggling shows later, Nino was in the possession of one hot copy of _Halo: Reach_ and two damp socks. Junno had seven hundred and forty-three more yen than he’d had when they got there. 

Nino grumped, "My socks are damp. I hate you."

"Whatever you say, angel."

Nino stopped in his tracks and faced Junno. " _What_ did you just call me?"

Junno laughed. "Well, you’re the one holding the halo."

"Ugh. If I never see your face again, Taguchi, it'll be too soon."

"Okay. You should bring it over. We’ll play," Junno said, beginning to stride away.

The thought crossed Nino’s mind that if Junno possessed the ability to coax him out of vital pieces of clothing in public, there was no telling what he could do in the privacy of his own home. 

"That is, unless you’re too scared." He glanced back over his shoulder at Nino. "Coming?"

Nino smirked. "You bet your ass." Nino always played to win.


End file.
